Pretty Flame
by awesomestninjas
Summary: When Mystic Falls gets some new residents, it wasn't that big a deal, but as more time goes by, and events unfold ... things are about to get really interesting.


_Appearance captures your attention; Personality captures your heart_

**Chapter One**

**Jeremy's POV**

The school parking lot was packed, as usual, and parking the car was difficult. I ended up miles from the doors and, to top it all off, I was running late. I picked up my pace so I could try to shave some time off the amount of time it would take me to get to the doors, let alone through them. When I finally got to the doors, they were blocked by all of the students who had stayed outside as long as they could in the remaining heat from the summer, which had managed to last until late September, early October time. I pressed my way through the sea of bodies, determined not to be late again this week. As I made a beeline for my locker, a shock of red hair distracted me. Amongst the various hues of blonde and brown, it couldn't have stood out more unless it had been an unnatural colour. As we both moved, the crowds thinned and I managed to get a better look at her. She was bordering on small; with a delicate, petite figure and pale, porcelain skin. Her hair covered most of her face, and the way she kept pushing it forwards made me think that she was purposely using it as a shield against prying eyes. Her body language made me think that she was a freshman and new here, but if that had been true, she would have started at the beginning of the term with all of the other freshman students. But, whilst it was uncommon in as small a place as Mystic Falls, it was true that she could have been a late transfer student. The way she hid her face prevented me from being able to even guess what year she would be in.

She had stopped at a locker just down from mine and was now fiddling with the lock, slowly becoming more frustrated in her movements. I retrieved the stuff I would need for art first lesson, put away the books I wouldn't need until later and turned my gaze back to the new, mystery girl. Whilst she seemed to have tried to dress down, her clothes were so different to what all the other girls were wearing that she may as well have been wearing a sign that said: "Look at me! I'm not from around these parts!" The off-white vest top, striped cardigan and denim skirt managed to be casual, practical and stylish at the same time and would have probably managed to blend pretty well into the background, had it not been for the slashed tights she wore, studded ankle boots and numerous, charm style bracelets. I shook my head to clear it of thoughts on fashion; clearly Jenna and Elena were finally getting to me with all of their girl talk. The final bell sounded and, I snapped back to the present, grabbed everything and slammed my locker shut with a force I usually only used when angry.

I sat in my seat, doodling on the front of my folder. The teacher called registration and we all answered automatically, the usual routine boring but compulsory. The door opening once again caused everyone to look up, our teacher was less than forgiving than … well, anything. If you were late, that was it. I heard the collective gasp, as the person who stepped into the room wasn't anybody who was late but actually somebody new. I recognised her immediately as the fiery haired girl from the corridor earlier. Whilst the class was staring at her, the teacher barely spared her a glance.

"Go and sit by Jeremy." His tone was dismissive at best and I winced at his tone for her. She looked too scared to do much else. It took me a moment to realise that she looked a bit lost, her gaze travelling helplessly around the room. I raised my hand to show her it was me she was meant to be sitting next to. Spotting my barely raised hand, she smiled gratefully and made her way through the desks towards me.

"Jeremy, right?" she checked when she reached me. When I nodded, and only then, she took the seat she had been directed to. It was obvious that she had been to the office between when I had seen her this morning and when she had walked into the room: as she dropped her folder onto her desk a flutter of sheets fell out of it. She rushed to collect them all before they dropped out of her reach. I spotted her timetable, already nearly highlighted, and decided to try and get her talking.

"So, you know I'm Jeremy, what's your name?" she looked up from collecting her sheets and I took a quick moment to notice how blue her eyes were.

"Sorry, I'm Kim." She replied quietly. Her voice was soft and quiet; it was a struggle to be sure I had heard everything she had said.

"What lesson do you have first, then?" I continued, trying to start a conversation and keep it going. She didn't seem to want to talk much.

"Art." Came the single syllable answer. I hoped that she would be more communicative if I got to know her better.

"Same as me then, we'll be having Miss Lail. She's the best art teacher at the school." I told her happily. I'd been unlucky enough not to have Miss Lail for the last semester last year and it had been awful.

"Have I missed much?" she asked, a flash of something close to fear flickering over her face. I guessed she hadn't been wholely happy with moving to a new country in the middle of the school year.

"Not really," I thought about it. What had she missed? "We've mainly just been going over technical stuff up to now. I think we'll probably be starting a new project in the next day or so." She nodded and opened her mouth to say something. The bell to signal the end of registration stopped her before she could even speak. "Come on, I'll show you the way to class."

"You'll be partnered with Jeremy for this project, Kim. And welcome to the school," the small Indian woman told Kim as we entered. I had been going to work on my because the class had an odd number of students but I could tell how pleased she was to have an even number of students to put us all in pairs. With a flick of her wrist she directed us to a table at the back of the room. "Your project this semester is elements. Now I have all of the elements written down on pieces of paper in this hat," she produced a top hat, which I think she had stolen from the props cupboard, from behind her back. "And then you get to pick your element." How typical, allowing us to pick our won poison. Kim was silent the whole time it took for Miss Lail to move around the classroom, to each pair. When she did reach us, last, I indicated for Kim to put her hand in the hat. She did so in a way that made it seem as though she thought the hat would eat her.

"Fire," she mumbled when she had pulled a single piece of paper from the depths of the hat. Well at least we got a cool element. I said as much. I was rewarded with a smile. As we collected the supplies we would need for the lesson, namely paper and pencils so we could draw some ideas for the project, I decided to try and start another conversation, hopefully with more success than before.

"What's it like in Australia?" she looked at me confused for a moment. "You are from Australia, right?" her confusion morphed into humour and she laughed.

"Yeah, sure I'm an Australian who's allergic to the sun," she told me. "I'm an Australian vampire and my family moved here because the sun really used to irritate me."

I felt myself tense, even though I knew I should remain calm. What was it with me and making friends with vampires? Maybe I should go and fetch Ric? No, it was the middle of the day, the middle of school! There wouldn't be anything he could do. Maybe I should call Stefan? No, he was in a lesson, plus that would involve Elena. Perhaps Damon? No, he would just stake her. Bonnie would be even worse, she only tolerated the current vampires for Elena's sake. I was stopped from further worrying by Kim speaking again.

"Calm down, I'm joking." She was speaking slowly as if I was an idiot. "You know; ha, ha, funny? Its not as if vampires exist. Anyway I'm from England." I laughed shakily and, gathering my stuff, moved back to our table with Kim trailing behind me.

"You should come by my house tomorrow so we can get some ideas for the project." I told Kim as we finished packing our collection of various materials and debris and putting it away, clean for next class.

"Um sure," she replied. We were past the original stage of single syllables and I wondered why she had suddenly reverted.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried that my offer to do some extra work at mine had scared her off.

"Well, you didn't seem as if you were going to give me your address," she replied. I felt myself blush and quickly scribbled my address on a piece of scrap paper I grabbed from the nearest table.

"Sorry, I'm so used to everyone knowing where everyone else lives in this town." I apologised. "Anyway, see you tomorrow, then." I waved and headed down the corridor away from her.

**AN Woooo! The first chapter of our first story is up XD We hope you liked it. The next chapter will be in Kim's POV, so we'll get to find out what goes on inside that head of hers. It may take awhile for us to update and upload the next chapter but don't worry you hopefully wont have to wait too long. Oooo and could you review it pretty please, with cherries on top **

**Thank you **

**The Awesomest Ninjas xxxxx**


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